JP2000354207A - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital broadcast receiver that a user can easily adds or change the tuner, a plurality of broadcast data can be recorded/reproduced and a signal quantity required for wiring to a tuner can be reduced with respect to a device which uses a plurality of the tuners. SOLUTION: The digital broadcast receiver is provided with tuner identification means such as switches 14a, 14b, 14c that use a control signal bus 13 to identify a plurality of connected tuner units 12a, 12b, 12c. A data output is requested to the tuner units 12a, 12b, 12c and data are captured on a data bus 15 in the order of requests by referring to a tuner identification signal. From which tuner the data outputted to a data bus comes is discriminated on the basis of a state of the control signal bus 13 and a selector 16 shares data to an output destination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver connected to a plurality of tuners.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11 shows a conventional apparatus having three tuners.
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram when the antenna is mounted on the receiving antenna 111 and the first antenna.
Tuner 112a, second tuner 112b, third tuner 112c, tuner control signal bus 113, first tuner dedicated receiving data bus 114a, second tuner dedicated receiving data bus 114b, third tuner dedicated receiving data bus 114c, selector 115, a control unit 118, a recording / reproducing unit 117, and a recording medium 118.

[0003] Broadcast signals received by the receiving antenna 111 are transmitted to first to third tuners 112a, 112b, 11b.
2c. In these tuners, the control unit 116
The broadcast set by the control signal 113 connected to each tuner is demodulated into video / audio data, and sent to the selector 115 via dedicated signal lines 114a, 114b, 114c for each tuner. The selector 115 switches the recording / playback unit, video / audio output, and connection switching of each tuner to a control signal from the control unit 115. The recording / reproducing unit 117 responds to a control signal from the control unit 115
The video / audio data output from the selector 115 is recorded on a recording medium (video tape or the like) 118, and the video / audio data read from the recording medium 118 is stored in the selector 1
15 is output.

[0004]

A first problem with such a conventional device is that the tuner is fixed to the device, and there is a means for adding a tuner or changing to a tuner having a different receiving system according to the user's request. That is not.

[0005] The reason is that a video tape, which is a recording medium mainly used in a conventional apparatus, can record or reproduce only one piece of video / audio data at the same time. This is because the number of receivable broadcasting systems is sufficient, and the user does not need to change the number of tuner or the type of tuner, for example, such that a plurality of tuners of the same receiving system can be connected.

A second problem is that the conventional apparatus does not have means for controlling transfer of received data of a plurality of tuners operating simultaneously using the same signal line.

[0007] The reason is that in the conventional apparatus, since the recording medium can correspond to only one tuner's received data, it is sufficient to have only means for exclusively connecting the tuners.

A third problem is that, in the conventional apparatus, dedicated data signal lines are required for the number of tuners contained therein, and if a large number of tuners are incorporated, an area for signal wiring used in the tuners becomes large. That is, the size of the apparatus increases.

The reason is that there is no means for processing data output from a plurality of tuners on a common signal line.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver in which a user can easily add or change a tuner. A second object is to provide a digital broadcast receiver capable of recording and reproducing a plurality of broadcast data. A third object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiver, and in a device using a plurality of tuners, to reduce the amount of signals required for wiring to the tuners, thereby facilitating miniaturization of the device.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a digital broadcast receiver having a common data bus and a control signal bus for detachably connecting a plurality of digital broadcast tuners. And a tuner identifying means for identifying a plurality of connected tuners by using a control signal bus.

As the tuner identification means, a mode in which a tuner identification signal is generated on a control signal bus by operating a switch with a connected tuner, a unique tuner identification signal from the connected tuner side is transmitted to the control signal bus. An output form or a form in which a connected tuner side outputs a unique tuner identification signal to a control signal bus can be considered.

Further, the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention comprises a data requesting means for making a data output request to a plurality of tuners and referring to the tuner identification signal and taking in the data bus in the order of request.

Further, there is provided a selecting means for judging from which tuner the data output to the data bus is output from the state of the control signal bus, and distributing the data to an output destination.

[0015]

According to the present invention, with such a configuration, by reading the tuner identification data output by the tuner, the number and type of tuners connected to the device can be automatically determined by the device, and the user can use the tuner. The quantity and type of tuners used in the equipment can be easily changed.

By maintaining the processing order of data output from a plurality of tuners, it is possible to secure a transfer rate of output data of each tuner when a common data bus is used. Simultaneous recording and playback of multiple programs using the tuner at the same time becomes possible, and the common data bus becomes available, so that the amount of wiring inside the device for the increase in the number of tuners can be reduced, The size of the device can be reduced.

[0017]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital broadcast receiver according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the digital broadcast receiver includes a receiving antenna 11 for receiving a broadcast, and first, second, and third tuner units 12 for demodulating received data into digital data.
a, 12b, 12c, these tuner units 12
a, 12b, and 12c, a tuner control signal bus 13 for designating a channel to receive, a designation of data output, and a request for data output from the tuner unit.
When each tuner unit 12a, 12b, 12c is connected to the device, each tuner unit 12a, 12b,
First, second, and third switches 14a, 14b, and 14 for acquiring data on the presence / absence / type of a, 12b, and 12c
c, a receiving data bus 15 for outputting video / audio digital data demodulated by the tuner units 12a, 12b, 12c, and the tuner units 12a, 12c.
b, selector 16 for switching between the digital data output from 12c, data input / output from the recording / reproducing unit, and data to be sent to the video / audio reproducing unit, digital broadcast receiver such as receiving channel setting, reproducing data setting, recording data setting, etc. A control unit 17 for performing overall control, a recording medium 19 for recording broadcast data such as an HDD or a video tape, a recording / reproducing unit 18 for performing recording / reproducing control on the recording medium 19, and tuner units 12a, 12b, 12c are provided. It comprises a received data to be output and a video / audio reproducing unit 20 for reproducing data read from the recording medium 19.

FIG. 2 shows the tuner unit 12a,
It is a figure showing composition of a connection part about one of 12b and 12c. In order to connect the tuner control signal and the reception data bus of FIG. 1 to the tuner unit, the tuner unit main body 21 has a tuner unit side connector 22,
An apparatus-side connector 25 is provided on the apparatus main body side.
Further, the tuner unit main body 21 has a tuner identification projection 23 for pressing a device-side switch so as to indicate the type of tuner, and the tuner identification projection 23 is caused by the tuner-side projection 23 on the device main body side. And a tuner identification switch 24 for acquiring application data.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a processing unit for interrupt request from the tuner unit in the control unit 17 of FIG. In the figure, an interrupt request processing unit includes a request receiving unit 31 that receives an output request signal output by each tuner unit, a FIFO memory 32 that writes and holds the output request signal in the request receiving unit 31, An interrupt signal generation unit 33 that generates an interrupt signal 34 according to the state of the FIFO memory 32, a control CPU 36 that is notified of an output request by the interrupt signal 34, and a tuner number for which the control CPU 36 requests an output. And an interrupt status display section 35 for checking the status.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of each tuner unit. In the figure, each tuner unit monitors a data demodulator 41 for demodulating a broadcast signal into digital data, a data buffer 42 for temporarily storing demodulated digital data, and a data amount stored in the data buffer 42. Device side control CP if necessary
And a data output request creating unit 43 for outputting a data output request signal to U.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG.
The operation for identifying the presence / absence and type of each tuner unit will be described. Tuner units 12a, 12
When b and 12c are connected to the apparatus, the switches 14a, 14b and 14c connected to the tuner control signal bus 13 connected to the control unit 17 are operated as follows.

In FIG. 2, the tuner unit main body 2
When the tuner unit side connector 22 is connected to the apparatus side connector 25 in order to connect 1 to the apparatus main body, the tuner identification projection 23 presses the tuner identification switch 24 provided on the apparatus side. The tuner identification switch 24 is connected to the tuner control signal bus 13 of FIG. 1, and a signal pattern of the tuner identification switch 24 generated by pressing the tuner identification projection 23 is output to the tuner control signal bus. .

The control unit 17 includes switches 14a, 14b,
The signal pattern for tuner identification output to the tuner control signal bus 13 from 14c is read. At this time,
It is determined that the tuner unit is not connected to the device-side connector 25 having a switch for which no ON state is output. When there is a switch whose ON state is detected, the type of the tuner is determined based on the signal pattern output from the tuner identification switch 24.

Next, the operation when a broadcast is received will be described. Based on the tuner type information obtained by the tuner identification operation, the control unit 17 performs a broadcast setting operation for each of the tuner units 12a, 12b, and 12c via the tuner control signal bus 13 for each tuner unit. Tuner units 12a, 12b, 12c for which broadcast settings to receive have been set
Demodulates the broadcast signal received by the receiving antenna 11 into digital data (such as MPEG2 data). At this time, the digital data demodulated into digital data by the data demodulation unit 41 in FIG. The data output request creation unit 43 includes a data buffer 42
When received data is stored in the tuner control data bus 13 (FIG. 1), a request signal is output to the tuner control data bus 13 (FIG. 1). The data output request output from each tuner unit is transmitted to the control unit 17 via the tuner control data bus 13.

The processing of an output request from each tuner unit performed in the control unit 17 will be described with reference to FIG. A request signal from each tuner unit is input to the request receiving unit 31. When receiving the output request from the tuner unit, the request receiving unit 31 transmits data with a bit indicating the number of the received tuner unit to the FI.
Write to the FO memory 32. When a request from the next tuner unit is received, the operation of writing data with a bit indicating the number of the tuner unit into the FIFO memory 32 is repeated.

When the status of the FIFO memory 32 is no longer empty, the interrupt signal generator 33
A data read operation is performed on the O memory 32, and an interrupt request signal 34 is output in accordance with the interrupt input timing of the control CPU 36 to notify the control CPU 36 that there is a data output request from the tuner unit. The interrupt status display unit 35 holds the data output from the FIFO memory 32 in the internal register in accordance with the data read from the FIFO memory 32 by the interrupt signal creation unit 33.

The control CPU 36 obtains the tuner number that has issued the output request by reading the data of the interrupt status display section 35. When the control CPU 36 executes a status clear operation on the interrupt status display unit 35, the interrupt signal creation unit 33
The status of the FIFO memory 32 is confirmed, and if the FIFO memory 32 is empty, the process waits until the status of the FIFO memory 32 indicates that there is data. When the status of the FIFO memory 32 is not empty, the interrupt signal creation unit 33 reads data from the FIFO memory 32, outputs an interrupt request signal 34 to the control CPU 36, and the interrupt status display unit 35 captures the data. Thus, the interrupt request of each tuner unit is transmitted to the control CPU 36 without changing the order in which the requests were output.

Next, transfer of received data will be described with reference to FIG. When, for example, an output request from the first tuner unit 12a is received in a state where no output request has been received, an output permission signal for the first tuner unit 12a is set to a permission state. 1st tuner unit 1
2a outputs a predetermined amount of data to the data bus when the output permission signal is enabled. The order in which the third tuner unit 12c and the second tuner unit 12b issue an output request while the first tuner unit 12a outputs data is held by the request receiving unit 31 shown in FIG.

When the data transfer of the first tuner unit 12a ends and the control CPU clears the status,
Since the transmission request of the third tuner unit 12c is transmitted to the control CPU, the output permission of the third tuner unit 12c becomes active, the data from the third tuner unit 12c is output, and the data output of the third tuner unit 12c is output. When the control CPU clears the status at the time when the control is completed, the second tuner unit 1
2b is transmitted.

By repeating this operation, output permission is given to each tuner unit in the order in which the transmission request is output, so that the same reception data bus can be time-divided to transfer the reception data of a plurality of tuner units. it can.

The selector 16 in FIG. 1 determines from which tuner unit the data output to the reception data bus is output from the state of the tuner control signal bus 13, and determines the output set in advance by the controller 17. Sort the data first. In the recording / reproducing unit 18, the control unit 17
At the time of reproduction, the recorded data is read from the recording medium 19 and sent to the selector 16. The selector 16 sends the data to the video / audio reproduction unit 20 to reproduce the data.

At the time of recording, the selector 16 sends the received data from the tuner unit designated by the control unit 17 to the recording / reproducing unit 18 and records it on the recording medium 19. At this time, if a medium capable of high-speed recording such as an HDD (hard disk) is used as the recording medium 19, the selector 16 can output the output data of the plurality of tuner units to the recording / reproducing unit
8 to enable simultaneous recording of received data from a plurality of tuners. In addition, by transmitting data to both the video / audio reproducing unit 20 and the recording / reproducing unit 18 in the selector 16, it is possible to reproduce any received data among the plurality of received data being recorded.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
An example will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the second embodiment, in which 61 is a receiving antenna, 62a, 62b, and 62c are first, second, and third tuner units.
a, 12b, and 12c. Reference numeral 63 denotes a tuner control signal bus, in which a switch data signal is deleted from the tuner control signal bus 13 in FIG. 1, and a signal for performing a tuner number designation operation and a tuner number read operation for the tuner unit is added. 64, 6
5, 66, 67, 68, 69, and 70 respectively correspond to 1 in FIG.
The same as 5, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

FIG. 7 shows a tuner number designating means for designating a tuner number to the tuner unit.
71 is a tuner unit main body, 72 and 75 are connectors for connecting the tuner unit main body 71 to the apparatus main body, 73 is a switch for receiving a tuner number, 74
Is a projection for transmitting the tuner number to the tuner unit by pressing the switch 73.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing the operation of another tuner number designating means for designating a tuner number to the tuner unit. FIG. 9 is a timing chart of the tuner identification operation in the second embodiment.

When the tuner unit is connected to the tuner control signal bus and the reception data bus in FIG. 6, a tuner number is set in the tuner unit by the operation of FIG. 7 or FIG.

In FIG. 7, when the tuner unit is connected to the receiver by connecting the connectors 72 and 75, the switch 73 on the tuner unit side is pressed by the projection 74 on the receiver side. On the receiver side, by changing the pattern of the projections 74 for each slot to which the tuner unit is connected, the pattern for pressing the switch 73 is changed, so that the tuner number is specified for each slot.
In the system shown in FIG. 8, the selection signal for each slot is added to the tuner control signal bus instead of eliminating the need for the switch 73 and the projection 74 shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, in order to register the tuner number in the tuner unit connected to the first slot, the first slot setting signal is enabled and the tuner number is output as control data. When the tuner number is output to the control data, the first slot setting signal is disabled. The tuner unit fetches the data on the control data bus as the tuner number when the slot setting signal is disabled.

The control unit 66 determines whether or not there is a tuner unit.
The operation of acquiring the type of data will be described with reference to FIG. After confirming that the tuner control signal bus is unused, the control unit 66 enables the ID request signal for a certain period of time, disables the ID request signal, and stops outputting the tuner number to the control data bus. When the ID request signal is enabled, each tuner unit compares the data on the control data bus with the registered tuner number. The tuner unit whose tuner number matches the data on the control data bus waits for the ID request signal to be in the disabled state, enables the response signal, and outputs an identification signal indicating the tuner type to the control data bus for a certain period of time. I do.

When the response signal is enabled, the control unit 66 determines the type of the tuner unit by reading the identification data output on the control data bus. If the response signal is not enabled within a predetermined time, it is determined that there is no tuner to which the corresponding tuner number is set. With this operation, the type of the added tuner unit is automatically determined. The method of maintaining the output order of the tuners at the time of receiving data output is the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart of the reception data transfer of a plurality of tuner units on the reception data bus in the second embodiment. When each tuner unit issues an output request and accepts the output request in the same manner as in the first embodiment without changing the order of the requests, the control unit 66 enables the output permission signal and allows the tuner to permit the output to the reception data bus. The number (described as ID in FIG. 9) is output.

The tuner unit fetches data on the bus when the output permission signal is enabled, and the tuner unit that matches the tuner number outputs data when the output permission signal is disabled, thereby outputting a data. , The received data output from a plurality of tuner units can be handled on the same data bus.

[0044]

A first effect of the present invention is that a user can easily change the type and number of tuners used in a digital broadcast receiver by connecting a tuner unit. The reason is that the tuner unit has a means for outputting identification data indicating the type of tuner, and the receiver has means for reading out the identification data, so that the tuner can be set by the control software on the receiver side. This is because there is no need for the user to make settings.

A second effect is that the size of the digital broadcast receiver when a plurality of tuners are mounted can be reduced. The reason is that by connecting one set of data bus and control bus to each tuner, it is possible to control a plurality of tuners and to output received data. This is because even in a digital broadcast receiver using the tuner, the amount of signal lines required for transferring received data can be smaller than before.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart showing the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Receiving antenna 12a 1st tuner unit 12b 2nd tuner unit 12c 3rd tuner unit 13 Tuner control signal bus 14a switch 14b switch 14c switch 15 Receive data bus 16 Selector 17 Control part 18 Recording / reproducing part 19 Recording medium 20 Video / audio reproduction Unit 21 tuner unit 22 connector 23 tuner identification projection 24 switch 25 connector 31 request receiving unit 32 FIFO memory 33 interrupt signal creating unit 34 CPU interrupt request signal 35 interrupt status display unit 36 control CPU 41 data demodulation unit 42 data buffer 43 data output Request creating unit 61 Receiving antenna 62a First tuner unit 62b Second tuner unit 62c Third tuner unit 63 Tuner Control signal bus 64 Receive data bus 65 Selector 66 Control unit 67 Recording / reproducing unit 68 Recording medium 70 Video / audio reproducing unit 71 Tuner unit 72 Connector 73 Switch 74 Tuner number designation projection 75 Connector 111 Receiving antenna 112a First tuner 112b Second Tuner 112c Third tuner 113 Tuner control signal bus 114a Dedicated receive data bus for first tuner 114b Dedicated receive data bus for second tuner 114c Dedicated receive data bus for third tuner 115 Selector 116 Control unit 117 Recording / reproducing unit 118 Recording medium

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A digital broadcast receiver having a common data bus and control signal bus for detachably connecting a plurality of digital broadcast tuners, said plurality of tuners being connected to each other using said control signal bus. A digital broadcast receiver, comprising: a tuner identification unit for identifying a digital broadcast. 2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the tuner identification means generates a tuner identification signal on a control signal bus by operating a switch with the connected tuner. 3. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the tuner identification means outputs a unique tuner identification signal from a connected tuner to a control signal bus. 4. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the tuner identification means outputs an identification number of a slot to which the tuner is connected as a tuner identification signal to a control signal bus. 5. A data output request to a plurality of tuners,
5. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising data request means for referring to the tuner identification signal and taking in the data bus in a request order. 6. A tuner for judging from which tuner the data output to the data bus is output from the state of the control signal bus, and distributing the data to an output destination. The digital broadcast receiver according to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.